After Maehara, Welfare Minister Hosokawa on the Brink

Japan is about to get introduced to its third foreign minister since the ruling Democratic Party of Japan swept to power under two years ago. Now it may be on the brink of getting a third welfare minister.

Ritsuo Hosokawa is the man currently in the firing line: His candid admission that he was unaware of a pension relief measure that was actually implemented in January has enraged opposition parties to the point where they are threatening to submit a censure motion in the upper house. Not exactly unfamiliar with the heat of opposition criticism himself, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has attempted to defend the minister. But his argument that the relief measure was formulated last March, well before Mr. Hosokawa was elevated to the ministerial post, cut little ice.